Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between senior principal scientists and medical science liaisons can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a senior principal scientist and a medical science liaison. Additionally, a medical science liaison has an average salary of $145,718, which is higher than the $119,042 average annual salary of a senior principal scientist.
The top three skills for a senior principal scientist include chemistry, drug discovery and java. The most important skills for a medical science liaison are patients, medical affairs, and MSL.
| Senior Principal Scientist | Medical Science Liaison | |
| Yearly salary | $119,042 | $145,718 |
| Hourly rate | $57.23 | $70.06 |
| Growth rate | 17% | 17% |
| Number of jobs | 85,334 | 57,208 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A Senior Principal Scientist is focused on providing technical and scientific expertise in a specific field. They conduct quantitative and qualitative research to enhance existing products or develop new ones.
A medical science liaison (MSL) is a scientific professional who facilitates a working relationship between healthcare companies and leading physicians, researchers, and clinicians. Also referred to as key opinion leaders (KOL), medical science liaisons represent their company to the decision-makers in the medical community as well as to investors and government regulatory agencies. They analyze clinical trends and monitor the scientific literature for new developments in the medical community. Medical science liaisons also prepare medical samples and data to investigate the causes of chronic diseases, pathogens, and toxicity.
Senior principal scientists and medical science liaisons have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Principal Scientist | Medical Science Liaison | |
| Average salary | $119,042 | $145,718 |
| Salary range | Between $83,000 And $169,000 | Between $59,000 And $359,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Jackson, TN |
| Highest paying state | California | Tennessee |
| Best paying company | Amazon | Saint Luke's Health System |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a senior principal scientist and a medical science liaison in terms of educational background:
| Senior Principal Scientist | Medical Science Liaison | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Most common major | Chemistry | Nursing |
| Most common college | Duke University | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between senior principal scientists' and medical science liaisons' demographics:
| Senior Principal Scientist | Medical Science Liaison | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 80.3% Female, 19.7% | Male, 41.6% Female, 58.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 26.5% White, 53.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 23.4% White, 56.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 8% |